Doina Cornea

"Leontin Iuhas: Jumping over several stages, we will surely get there.... The attitude of the Securitate, or at least a part of the Securitate, on November 18, 1987 - we only learned about it after reading our files. During the uprisings in Braşov, when I was visiting my mother and we were talking about the course of events, my mother wrote some leaflets - in her own hand. I came by to fix the car and she asked me to go with her and distribute some manifestos. They expressed solidarity with the workers in Braşov, at least most of them.... Some read: „Workers in Braşov on strike”. I told her: „Mother, it's not ok, let's drop the word strike”. She said: All right. We spread them around.... In front of factories, in front of the university, so it wasn't a very large action, there were less than 200 copies. Doina Cornea: 160, to be precise, 160. Neither more or less than that."

"What else happened between 1983 and 1987? Doina Cornea: I kept sending letters. What I forgot to tell you is that, after every single letter I sent, I had to pay a fine of 5.000 lei.... compared to the salary, you can imagine!... A fine for what? Doina Cornea: For the letter I sent to Radio Free Europe. Is that what it said: because of the letter? Doina Cornea: Yes, because I had addressed a radio station with a hostile attitude towards our country and order of things; this was the wording back then. But if I paid the fine on the spot, it was reduced to... Leontin Iuhas: 500 lei, if I remember correctly? Doina Cornea: Yes, I paid 500 lei. A quarter of my salary. And how many letters were there in total? Doina Cornea: There were... Ariadna Combes: Wait a minute, I think there were 13-14 before 1987, am I right?!!! Doina Cornea: Yes. Ariadna Combes: To be honest, I can't remember exactly. I knew them by heart, but I forgot them. So you received them? Ariadna Combes: Yes, I received them. And since they were manuscripts, I had to typewrite them for Radio Free Europe. After the situation increasingly deteriorated, my mother started using a magnifying glass, writing on sheets of paper that looked just like rolling paper for tobacco, which I would then have to decipher and typewrite, using a magnifying glass as well. I even received a note in a toothpaste, a small sheet of paper rolled together and wrapped in plastic, then tucked into the toothpaste. I had reached an agreement with the people working for Radio Free Europe, to warn me about the exact date when the letter would be read, so I could check what was going on with my mother after publication. But from 1986 on, it was basically very difficult for me to talk to my mother and Tin-Tin. Why? Ariadna Combes: Because the phone was mostly disconnected, the phone lines interrupted. They started interrupting them in November 1986. Definitely, practically in the summer of 1987; I remember talking to my mother-in-law, she kept asking me if I wasn't worried and urged me to call my mother back. I explained her I was already used to the situation, that calls were often interrupted and that I didn't worry, I knew they just wanted to harass us this way. This is how it happened that I didn't know anything about their arrest, the phone was disconnected, all communication interrupted. Back in November 1987 I couldn't even call our neighbor anymore, Miss Marioara Boilă, her phone was also disconnected."